Meredith Brooks, B*tch | 1 Hit WONDERful

In the 13^th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful (2024), we highlight “Bitch” performed by singer/songwriter, Meredith Brooks. 

It only takes ONE hit to solidify a musical legacy 💯! On 1 Hit WONDERful, we highlight songs that were the SOLE hit by a given musician.  To be fair, it is possible that the artists appearing on this list earned a minor hit or two, BUT for the most part, it’s that ONE hit that earned them recognition. So, in the 13^th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful (2024) we dive into “Bitch”,  the one hit wonder by Meredith Brooks. 

“I’m a bitch, I’m a lover / I’m a child, I’m a mother / I’m a sinner, I’m a saint / I do not feel ashamed.” Meredith Brooks, you are multifaceted!  That said, the part that made our eyebrows raise in 1997, is the five-letter word, also the title of the song, “Bitch”. “Bitch” was written by Brooks alongside Shelly Peiken. And produced by Geza X. It appeared as the second track on her platinum album, also released in 1997, Blurring the Edges. While music has far more explicit in the 2020s, with wild, explicit song titles, a song earning pop success with an ‘obscenity’ in the title in the 1990s was unusual.  “Bitch” ultimately peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the sole top-40 hit by Brooks. 1 Hit WONDERful? You bet! Worth noting, it was certified gold by the RIAA.

“I hate the world today,” Brooks commences the first verse of “Bitch,” with a bang.  Mic drop moment! From there, the emotionally charged lyrics continue. “I’m an angel underneath / Innocent and sweet,” she asserts, adding in the second verse, “I can understand how you’d be so confused /… I’m a little bit of everything all rolled into one.” As she makes crystal clear in the chorus, she can’t be pigeonholed, and that simultaneously, she can be multiple things.  Furthermore, these different parts can change from moment to moment, day to day (“Tomorrow I will change and today won’t mean a thing).  While this is written from the perspective of a woman, it is a song that speaks to everybody – we can all be characterized by perceived good and bad things.  There are no shortage of memorable lyrics, such as “So take me as I am / This may mean you’ll have to be a stronger man” (verse three) and “Just when you think you got me figured out / The season’s already changing” (bridge).  “Bitch” raises eyebrows because of its title, but what Meredith Brooks delivers with her one-hit-wonder is a song that is relatable and thoughtfully penned and authentically performed.

Meredith Brooks // Blurring the Edges // Capitol // 2024

Meredith Brooks, Bitch: 1 Hit WONDERful No. 13 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Capitol; Elias Souza from Pexels; OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]